The Price of Betrayal
by Simply Not Quite
Summary: “I don’t love you,” he told her finally and she nodded. “I am aware of that. All the more foolish of me to love you.”


Disclaimer: I own nothing but a bit of my own imagination and a fleeting thought slipping through my mind.

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As the darkness of her room enveloped her, she was grateful to have finally managed to slip away from the celebration.

Closing the door behind her with a soft click, she stepped out of her shoes, carelessly leaving them laying next to it. Her bare feet padded soundlessly across the soft carpet as she approached her table. Just as she had hoped, a decanter of sweet summer-wine and goblet had been left on it. Murmuring a grateful prayer to whatever deity might be listening; she pulled off the stopper and prepared to serve herself.

"Pour two while you're at it."

The low rough voice startled her enough to splash some wine onto her hand holding the goblet. But she resumed pouring after the briefest of pauses, obligingly filling two goblets. Leaving them both on the table for a moment, she sauntered over to the window, consciously keeping her pace even and calm. A harsh yank drew one half of the heavy curtains aside, allowing a pale beam of moonlight enter the room.

Squinting towards the moon for a moment, she gave her eyes a moment to get used to the light, as little effect as it had, before she turned around to face him.

He didn't seem fazed by any of what had happened, but his clothing was torn and the smell of smoke hung to it thickly and his face seemed narrower and drawn tighter. He was lounging in a chair, an ankle resting on his knee; his head leaned back as he observed him from half-lidded eyes. Still, she knew him too well to think for even a moment that he was relaxed. Even now one of his arms was placed over his chest so that his fingers were a breath away from his weapon. Like a predator merely toying with his prey while waiting for a suitable moment to pounce. He could really make a girl's heart beat faster in anticipation without even trying to.

She picked up both of the goblets and crossed the room, aware of his eyes scanning her body up and down. Stopping directly in front of him, she offered him a choice of the goblet. He stared at the goblets for a couple of long moments, before taking the one in her right hand. Arching a sardonic eye-brow at him, she touched the edges of their goblets together in a salute before taking a long sip. She took care to sway her hips as sensually as she could, as she turned again and retreated to the table, letting him take in her appearance. The dress was soft and seemed to whisper of sinful pleasures as it rustled softly at her every moment and the wide colourful ribbons wrapped around her waist made her seem slender and more curvaceous than ever.

She seated herself on the edge of the table and took another sip of the wine.

He broke the silence first: "You don't seem entirely surprised to see me alive."  
"I'm not, I suppose. You left before the battle started, so you could have hardly been a casualty," the strength and steadiness of her voice surprised even herself.

"Are you planning on rectifying that?" he asked after a short pause.  
She tilted her head almost playfully to the side as she contemplated the words. "Should I?"

He let out a sharp burst of laughter: "The price of betrayal is death. You do not forgive." Her only reaction was to take another sip of wine, so he continued wryly: "I was bribed to sabotage the gate."  
"Twenty-eight dwarves, 16 lizard men and thirty-six of my sentries died and there were plenty of wounds," she recited the statistics to him as calmly as if she was reciting the numbers of last year's harvest.

"During your attack against the King of Shadows, I planned the trap at the stairs," he continued, sharp eyes trained on her.  
"Casavir got shot in the neck and suffocated on his own blood. Neeshka had the fortune of dying without realising what hit him," she responded, with a light, almost encouraging nod.

"After having shared your bed for two months, I turned around and betrayed you as soon as you appeared to be on the loosing side," he stated with finality as if he had been ticking items off a grocery list.

"That's a pretty good summary. You single-handedly nearly caused us the fight," she agreed amiably. Taking one more sip out of her wine-goblet, she placed it on the table and stood to walk back over to him. He didn't make a move to stop her as she bent and pulled the knife from its sheath at his belt. She weighed the knife in her hand for a moment before drawing it across his throat in a swift moment. A thin cut, just deep enough to draw blood. His eyes snapped open as he stared at her.

"I don't love you," he told her finally and she nodded. "I am aware of that. All the more foolish of me to love you."

She turned to return to the table but had barely had time to take a step, before long fingers wound around her wrist, twirled her around and pulled her into a fierce kiss. Shifting the angle of his knife that she was still holding on to, she dropped her goblet, carelessly spilling the wine. Winding her arms around his neck, she pressed herself as close to his body as humanly possible and surrendered to the passion.

When they finally resurfaced, they were both gasping for air. Making a small non-committal sound at the back of her throat, she slowly detangled herself from his arms. "Lock the door," she commanded sharply and watched as he turned to do just that with the loose-kneed lope of the wolf that was so characteristic of him.

She threw his knife underhand and watched expressionlessly as it embedded itself deep into his back. His corpse swayed for a moment, before slowly crumpling to the floor with a muted thud.

She lifted a hand to her hair and pulled off the ribbon that had been holding her hair up. Dropping the ribbon on the floor, she shook her head, making the silken black waves of her hair cascade down her back. Picking up his goblet, she refilled it again before walking over to the window. Leaning one hand against the window-sill, she raised the goblet to her lips and stared out at the moon.


End file.
